Naruto: Shinobiden
by Ryu-Kazuki
Summary: A young ANBU from Konohagakure waits for the day he can achieve his biggest goal. Until then he's stuck doing missions for Tsunade. Normally, everything is fine, but he doesn't know that he's been tracked down and hunted. Read, review, enjoy!
1. Total Opposites! Kazuki and Rei!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

This story takes place during the time skip while Naruto is away from the Leaf Village. The story will contain Original Characters, and of course; Canon Characters, because there are some characters that were never shown much of and should have a little more influence. Although, it will be based mainly around an OC in the story. Some characters belong to myself, friends, or other members.

Reviews of any kind are welcome and appreciated. It always encourages me to write more and feeds a little more spark into my burning fires of inspiration and editing. It also makes me glad to know I am satisfying my readers and letting them enjoy their time while reading.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

A note lashed against the breeze as its straight shape was ruined in the hands of the young woman who had her grip on it. She brushed one of her slender shoulders to dismiss the messenger hawk that perched there when it landed. She herself looked from the note towards the gates of the Leaf Village. "This is the place, huh...? Oh well, can't complain much really." She shrugged to herself and stepped into the gates, shoving the note into her pocket as she approached the village. Even though this wasn't her home, she wasn't afraid of this foreign land.

The girl was slightly tall, but she still had a little time to grow. After all she was only eighteen years old. Her figure was thin but she endowed enough to fit an average weight. Her smooth, white hair only reached her shoulders. It brushed against her face in the passing breeze. A Sand Village hitai-ate was tied around her throat, and a strange gourd strapped over her shoulder.

* * *

"I'll take the usual Ayame." A boy said from the counter of the inside of the Ichiraku Ramen Shop. He placed a few ryo on the table and sighed a bit to himself as he waited for his, what would be, supper to be ready. Sitting back in the corner was the best way to keep himself hidden by shadows, but anyone around the village could tell who he was.

This boy was Kazuki Ochina, currently a fifteen year old ANBU black ops in the Leaf Village. He was slightly taller than everyone else his age, he weighed at an average for people his age. His hair was around a medium-short length, and was black like the night sky. The length of his bangs covered his right eye. His eyes were a natural blue color which usually glow a bit brightly in the darkness. His Leaf Village hitai-ate was placed perfectly across his forehead. The last most noticeable thing about his face was the scar on the right side of his face. The scar looked as if a wolf had scratched him very deeply across the face with three of its claws. The scar was only a year old.

"Why the long face?" Ayame asked as she approached the counter and set down a hot bowl of ramen. She took the ryo and walked away to put the money with the rest of her day's profits. "You seem down lately!"

"You must be delusional. There isn't a day that I'm not worried about something..." He replied, sighing once again and swirling his chopsticks around in the bowl. He pulled them out of the bowl and set them back on the counter as he stared at the steam that rose from the broth.

"Things have been pretty different without Naruto around.. Either way, it's not healthy, maybe you should ask Hokage for a day off."

"I'll just deal with it..."

"Evening." Another girl said as she entered the restaurant. "I'd like a bowl of miso with a little extra seasoning." She said to Ayame as she entered with a inviting, but cautious smile. She brushed her white hair behind her ears and slipped out a note from her pocket to examine it.

Ayame had placed down the bowl of ramen. The girl had already put away the note and placed some ryo on the counter. Ayame collected the payment for the meal and put it away.

"Kinda quiet in here, isn't it?" The girl asked Kazuki as she snapped her chopsticks and turned her head to him. She couldn't get a good glimpse on him though because of the darkness, but she knew he was there.

Kazuki refused to respond and slowly ate his ramen. He was in far too bad of a mood to converse with anyone.

"I'm Rei by the way." The girl said to him, trying to make friendly conversation.

"Your point?" Kazuki replied without taking his eyes off his bowl.

"My point..." She said, getting annoyed, "...is that I'd like to know your name... Duh!"

"You're a little out of luck then..." He said after finishing his ramen bowl and starting to head out.

"Looks like I found who I needed." Rei smirked a bit to herself and turned back to her ramen.

By then it had started to rain, which that didn't bother Kazuki at all as he allowed himself to be drenched by the sky's droplets. The streetlights had been turned on once it fell dark enough, but of course by now, the moon was already out.

Two ANBU flickered in front of Kazuki. Both of them were wearing their hooded, black cloaks, and each of them wearing the same mask, the mask of a tiger.

Both of the ANBU looked towards him as one spoke, clearly and sternly. "Hokage wishes to speak with you. You are to report to the offices at once."

"Alright..." Kazuki responded, nodding his head in agreement.

* * *

Moments later the three of them vanished and reappeared outside the Hokage's offices. The ANBU were on each of Kazuki's sides, one to the left, one to the right. The ANBU to the right slowly raised their arm and tapped on the door with their knuckles.

"Come in!" A voice responded from the other side of the door, allowing Kazuki and the ANBU to enter the room.

The three of them entered the room at the same time. The ANBU stood erect as Kazuki bowed without question or argument.

"Evening Tsunade-shishô." Kazuki said as he stood back up and stared towards the village's leader.

"You know your proper respects, and you are not to call me that anymore." Replied a voice resembling Tsunade's.

"My apologies. Why was I called here?"

"Have a seat and I'll tell you." She motioning her hands towards a chair in front of her desk. The desk was currently cluttered with scattered papers.

Kazuki approached and sat, he didn't mind how late it was, nor did he mind that he'd been called to see the Hokage really. His attitude remained the same from day to day, so these conditions wouldn't change anything.

"Bring in our guest!" Tsunade said to the ANBU at the back of the room.

"Guest?" Kazuki asked as he looked back towards the door.

The two ANBU returned to the door and opened it enough to allow them enter to room. The person who did, was the girl from before at Ichiraku Ramen, Rei.

"What's the meaning of this...?" Kazuki asked as he glared towards her and shifted his eyes in Tsunade's direction.

"She is your new bodyguard. Each mission you receive, and anywhere you go, you will be watched so we know that you won't do anything wrong."

"...Why the hell do I need a guard?"

"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just we..."

"You what?" Kazuki interrupted, he became angry. He felt as if Tsunade didn't trust him, making him criticize himself on the inside. "You think because I have similar problems that I'll become a rouge like Sasuke?"

"We just can't risk something like that happening again."

"That's an outrage!" Kazuki shouted as he slammed his fists on Tsunade's desk. Due to his training, he had quite impressive strength. Unfortunately, due to his temper, he was not always in control of that strength. His fist pounded the desk and it shook with an almighty crack, as though a thunderclap filled the room. Moments later, the desk's legs shuddered and gave. The large piece of furniture fell in on itself, broken into pieces at Kazuki's feet.

"This was not just my decision! This was an order carried out by the Daiyamo and backed up by the Daiyamo of the Land of Wind. Even Kazekage agreed to this. You'll understand one day, but until then, you're dismissed for the night."

Kazuki got up without a word and left the room without a word.

Rei watched Kazuki leave. Her arms were folded over her chest and her brows were somewhat knitted. "He seems a bit hard headed." Rei quirked once Kazuki left the room.

"He is, it's a bit frustrating sometimes, but he'll have to understand!"

"I'll take good care of him, don't you worry Hokage!" Rei bowed and left the room.

* * *

The next morning Kazuki was sitting out in front of what was his home in the Leaf Village. He was already dressed up in his casual clothes, a black shirt with his clan insignia on the back, long blue pants, and a katana in a sheath on his back.

"Hi!" Rei chimed as she stepped up to him, her shadow loomed over him as she stood there. "How are you today?"

He lifted his head a bit slower than normal and only cocked an eyebrow in her direction. "Why are you asking stupid questions?"

"Why are you so mean? What about that, huh?" She snapped at him as her eyebrows twisted into a glare.

"Whatever, let's go!" He stood up and headed into the market area with a pack to carry things in.

"Why did we come this way?" Rei looked around with a bit of curiosity.

He continued walking through the market, stopping at shops and stands to buy supplies. "I have missions to carry out, so I need things to take with me, and prepare for."

"Where to anyway?"

"There's an anti-shinobi city in the Land of Fire... I have to go there and meet up with a few others to speak with their leader about negotiations..."

"Sounds dangerous. Its a good thing you're not going alone!"

"...I can handle it."

"What's the place like anyway?"

"Not like I know. All I know is that its called Tomoe Town and they hate ninja!"

"Are you always such a jerk?"

Kazuki didn't say another word as he threw his sack over his shoulder. He turned out of the market and headed towards the village gates, setting a headset over his ear. "I'm preparing to embark."

"Alright, watch out for any ambushes on your way. We're still in disguise until we get the signal." Replied a voice from the other end of the signal.

"Roger!" Kazuki replied and put the headset away as he left the village with Rei following behind him. "...By the way, what's the estimate?"

"It's not far, it'll take about a half hour to an hour, just make sure you don't-hey! Who the hell are you?"

"What's going on?" Kazuki shouted as he started running. "What's the problem?"

There was no response from the other side of the communication. Nothing but pure silence. The feeling made thoughts race through Kazuki's minds. Rei started to run after Kazuki to catch up.

"Dammit!" He turned his head to Rei as he kept dashing off towards his destination. "If you want to do your job right, you'd better hurry and stop lagging behind!"

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter (and their creator); Ochina Kazuki (Ryu-Kazuki), Rei (Die Walkure)


	2. The masked antagonist appears!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"That's all of them."

"Good, return to your post and I'll brief you when the time comes."

"Roger..." The man speaking his microphone headset looked around at the ANBU that he'd just killed. "This better be worth my damn time," he said to himself as he glanced around.

The man had ragged royal blue hair, light blue eyes and a completely blue yakuta in different shades of the color. He was around his early thirties. On his head was a set of goggles and a snorkel for breathing under water. Tied around his right arm was a Mist Village hitai-ate, indicating that he was from the village hidden in the mist.

"Don't fail me Reio. We have a lot of information to gather on this mission!" the voice from the other end of the headset reminded him.

"I heard you the first time, jeez!" Reio shouted as he shoved the headset into his pocket and vanished away from the scene.

* * *

Inside one of the large tower castles located in the distance of Tomoe Town, a man roughly burst in through the large doors to the throne room.

"Kimagi-sama! Kimagi-sama!" The man shouted as he ran forward and instantly fell to his knees. "I beseech you my lord."

"What are you in need of?" Kimagi asked his servant as he steadied himself in his chair. Kimagi wore a traditional robe to the Land of Fire. His hair was white and its length reached to his shoulders.

"My lord, some of the townspeople have discovered the bodies of deceased shinobi forces from the Leaf Village. We assume they will not be the only ones."

"What reason have the Leaf Village shinobi-or any shinobi at that-to enter our territory? Must I take matters up to the Daiyamo of the Land of Fire?"

"Should we wait and find out what they want?"

"I suppose, it may do no harm... If any more shinobi show, I want them brought here immediately."

"Yes sir! As you wish..." the man stood on his feet and turned back as he fled out of the room.

* * *

"Oh my!" Rei gasped. "What happened?"

She and Kazuki looked around the surrounding area after they discovered the bodies of the ANBU Black Ops units. Both of them seemed puzzled, though the expressions stitched into their faces were different. Rei was shocked, her eyes wide as possible with her mouth gaping slightly. Kazuki on the other hand glared; his brows furrowed together with the hidden message of anger.

Kazuki kept silent as he steadied his right hand by his thigh. He was ready to quickly swipe a kunai from his pouch if needed. His hand twitched as he steadied himself, trying not to keep too stiff. He dismissed the situation from his mind and took a few steps before he heard the sound of metal neatly gliding across metal.

Kazuki jerked and whipped out one of the kunai as he'd planned. He furiously spun around and held it right at the throat of a figure that seemed to appear from nowhere. That figure had a naginata blade gently pressed against his throat in retaliation.

"What's going on?" Rei shrieked as she jerked around and saw that she and Kazuki were surrounded.

Men and women in red kimono with weapons in their hands were surrounding the shinobi. Each of them were wearing hand-crafted demon masks to hide their identities.

"Why have you shinobi come into our territory?" the man from before said as he stepped through the militia and in front of Kazuki and Rei. "I see a Sand Village ninja as well." He thought to himself once he spotted Rei.

Kazuki glanced at the man with his eyes. He was slightly infuriated but he kept his voice calm enough to speak. "Hokage has sent us here to negotiate a peace treaty with the leader of this territory and allow us to quarter shinobi in this area if needed."

"Why is there a sand ninja with you if Hokage sent you?"

Rei bowed slightly and rose up before she spoke. "I'm the boy's personal bodyguard."

Kimagi's adviser made no argument and accepted Rei's answer. "Very well, I will take you to Kimagi-sama..." the man turned back and walked away as the militia dispersed.

Kazuki and Rei followed the adviser to the large castle.

Not far back, standing on a rooftop was the Mist Village shinobi, Reio. "I found you, you damn little rat!" He smirked a bit as he kept a pair of binoculars locked on Kazuki. "I'm reporting in." Reio said into his headset. "Hey, can you hear me Mi-?"

"Give me your report... and don't you dare call me by that name!" the voice interrupted with a shrill snap.

"I found the kid, he's headed north towards the mountains. Followed by a Sand Village jônin."

"Any details on the sand shinobi?"

"Let's see..." He drew out his words while moving the binoculars onto Rei. "Long white hair, I'd say almost twenty. Wearing a Sand Village vest and a black shirt under it with a pair of tan pants."

"Is that all?"

"It's a female."

"Oh? ...Interesting!" The voice chuckled a bit on the other end of the radio. "I may have to take a look for myself."

"Yeah, whatever you stupid bit..." Reio mumbled angrily under his breath.

The voice shrieked in his ear to keep him from finishing his sentence. "What was that you idiot?"

Reio flinched a bit as the loud voice boomed in his ear. "Nothing." he snarled deeply.

"You can take a break this time... I'll take up the task on this mission."

"Whatever." Reio quickly vanished once again after putting his binoculars away.

* * *

Meanwhile, the shinobi and Kimagi's adviser were approaching the throne room in the large castle. They followed the adviser willingly.

"This place is pretty impressive!" Rei exclaimed in amazement as she walked down the hallway admiring the decor and architecture. "I never imagined some of the ancient castles around here were so fancy."

Kazuki lazily rolled his eyes a bit and scoffed. "It's not so great..."

"Oh shut up, will you?" Rei snapped as they kept walking.

"Here we are!" The adviser said as he shoved the large doors open and stepped into the throne room. "Kimagi-sama! I have brought the shinobi as you requested sir!"

Kimagi took note of this and motioned his hand toward the adviser. "You may leave."

"Yes Kimgami-sama..." The adviser said as he left the room.

Kimagi looked back to Kazuki and Rei. "Why have you entered my territory? Under the terms our territory has gathered, the Daiyamo of this country has allowed us to be an anti-shinobi township. The people here prefer to stay out of the business of the country's wars and protect themselves from the damages of war."

"Hokage has asked for an alliance treaty, I have only come to deliver the documents and be on my way. Also, before you say anything, the Daiyamo has allowed for the squad sent here to enter this territory." Kazuki said as he pulled out a scroll form his pouch.

"Tell Hokage that her efforts are futile. I have, and will not have, any interest in allying with any shinobi force."

"Is that what explains why the other members of this squad are deceased?"

"Kazuki..." Rei leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "You may not wanna make him mad." She then pointed to the two armed guards at the entrance to the room.

"I know what I'm doing!" Kazuki barked.

Kimagi laughed a bit at Kazuki. "Those shinobi were dead before we got to them. Your accusations mean nothing except only that you should leave sooner." He leaned back in his chair and stretched himself a bit. "Now, if you will, leave my presence. Or I shall have you forced out."

Rei snatched Kazuki's arm and walked out. "I'm doing this for your own good before you do anything stupid!" She said to him as they left the castle. Once they left, Rei let go of Kazuki's arm. "Come on, let's go home."

Kazuki angrily growled and folded his arms over his chest. "Who says I have to listen to you?"

"Fine!" Rei exclaimed. "Stay here all by yourself and get in more trouble!"

"Let's go..." Kazuki said as he walked away.

Rei snarled and shouted before she ran after him. "That's what I said!"

They both continued to leave Tomoe town. Kazuki's mission unsuccessful with the outcome a failure. Neither of them spoke to each other. The situation was too stressful for either to want to talk.

The wind started to pick up as some of the dirt slowly scattered across the ground. As the day started to retire to afternoon, an ominous density filled the air.

Rei looked around a bit and shrugged. Kazuki shifted around a bit as he walked to warm up from the cold chill of the wind.

Reio was hiding around a corner, spying on them from his position. "Finally I get to have some fun this mission." He grinned a bit as he wiggled his fingers a little to relax the muscles in his hand.

"Remember that I want to keep the target alive. Do you understand me?" A figure demanded from behind Reio. This figure hidden in the darkness was the same person Reio was previously giving information to with the radio headset.

"Yeah, I heard you." Reio replied as he slipped a smoke bomb out of his yakuta. He jumped up and launched the bomb between Kazuki and Rei.

The smoke bomb landed harshly between the two as Kazuki was knocked back by the explosion and he fell over. Rei on the other hand, was brutally thrown forward by the explosive blast. The both of them were coughing from the cloying smoke. They were coughing so hard that they could scarcely breath. It clouded their vision and their minds.

The smoke cleared slightly as the silhouettes of Kazuki and Rei were visible. Kazuki attempted to stand up as he jerked around to the sound of someone behind him smirking.

"Oh no you don't!" Reio shouted as he grinned. Reio rapidly flipped a few katas and viciously thrust his hand out toward Kazuki. "Art of the Water Prison!" An orb of water formed around Kazuki and Reio's hand, trapping Kazuki inside a prison made of water itself.

"Damn," Kazuki cussed himself under his breath. "There's no way I could of kept up with the speed of hand seals like that! That son of a mother must practice a lot..."

"Kazuki? Kazuki?" Rei shrieked as she stood up and blinked. She waited, letting the smoke clear so she cloud see. "Hey! What's the hell's going on?"

"Oh, I'd be glad to tell if you allow me to explain." The figure from the alleyway replied to Rei as they emerged. The figure's voice was adult and their voice sounded feminine, revealing that it was really a woman. Her age was indecipherable because of the outfit she was wearing, but she sounded as if she was in her early thirties. A pink windbreaker with a hood covered her torso and head. Her face was hidden behind a fox mask. She wore green shorts that reached halfway down her tall, slender legs. Beneath the shorts, fishnet leggings flowed from her waist to her feet. A sheath, strapped across her back, carried a katana, resting and waiting for its master to wield it. The figure chuckled a bit behind her mask and took a stance to ready herself for combat. "You can call me Shiragi, what's your name?"

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter (and their creator); Koidashi Kimagi (Ryu-Kazuki), Matsushi Reio (Ryu-Kazuki), Shiragi (Ryu-Kazuki)


	3. The antagonist attacks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Rei viciously glared a bit at Shiragi and took a defensive stance. "What do you want? Why are you here?" Rei shouted angrily.

Shiragi chuckled again enthusiastically. She quickly performed her next kata, tori, the sign of the bird. "Futon bushin no jutsu! Art of the wind Doppelganger!" Two clones appeared next to Shiragi as they drew kunai and dashed at Rei, the sound of their boots lightly slapping the ground as they ran.

Rei clenched her fists and fiercely snatched the clones by their wrists. She expertly slipped between them, carelessly snapping their arms. She leaped with her ankles and back flipped as she brutally slammed her feet into their backs.

Rei smirked as the clones fell forward, but they vanished in thin air and a powerful gust of wind shot at Rei, knocking her on her back. She grunted painfully and looked at her arms. Across the forearm area where she'd been hit by the wind were nasty open cuts. "How?" She muttered under her breath, humiliated by her carelessness.

"My special wind clones can't be dealt with so easily." Shiragi explained. "You see, when my clones are destroyed, they create a blast of wind that slices whatever it touches like a blade. Although; you're not doing too badly." She laughed mockingly at Rei.

"Just get out of here and give Kazuki back!" Rei snapped at her.

Shiragi chuckled a bit. "In that order?"

"You know what I mean!" Rei shouted as she became frustrated.

"Sorry... But I can't do that." Shiragi replied innocently, imitating a child's apology. "You see, I need your friend here for some important information to gather. He's a key part in an operation I'm working on."

Rei took a firm step forward and gently wrapped bandages around her forearms. The bandages should help to stop the bleeding. "Oh, what's that? Does it have anything to do with making you look decent enough to show your face?"

"Quiet you!" Shiragi yelled as she tossed a tagged kunai at Rei. Once the kunai makes contact with another object, the tag would activate and send more concealed kunai in the direction that the kunai was originally going. A deceitful tactic, nothing less expected from someone like Shiragi.

Kazuki choked lightly as he tried gasping for air. Being surrounded and trapped inside water was making it fairly difficult to breathe. Luckily, he had enough oxygen so he wouldn't suffocate. "What are you planning to do you scum?" He snapped at Reio who kept him locked in the water prison.

"Oh stop whining you little ass... You'll find out, but since I'm supposed to keep you alive I'll give you a little air to breathe." Reio lightened the amount of chakra he used on the prison. Doing so would not only allow a little more oxygen flow, but also weaken the strength of the prison. It was risky, but they needed to keep Kazuki alive, for now.

Rei tossed a few of her metal senbon into the kunai to deflect it. She expected a fiery explosion because of the tag, but she hadn't paid much attention to how the tag was a different color.

The senbon and kunai clashed as the trap activated and about a dozen more kunai were released.

"What?" Rei shouted as she jumped to the side and nearly adverted being scraped by a few of the kunai. She groaned again and stood up. "I can't afford to keep playing amateur like this! I'll get killed and they'll get away with Kazuki!" She thought to herself as she cracked her back into place. "It could be time, but I don't want to reveal my secret yet."

"Playing around like that can get you killed. I doubt you'd make it any farther if you keep this up!" Shiragi mocked, purposely attempting to anger and distract Rei.

"I have to find a way out of here..." Kazuki mumbled as he assessed the situation. "Problem is, I can hardly enough move inside this this!"

"Hey, shut it brat! It's hopeless, once my partner steps into a battle, there's no way anyone can survive." Reio kept watching with a slight smirk. "I can't wait to analyze that girl's DNA..." He laughed a bit as he continued to focus his chakra into the water prison.

Rei quickly flipped out a smoke bomb and jumped back. The bomb hit the ground in front of her and convulsed. Smoke was released as she ripped through it from the side and readied herself to slash at Shiragi with senbon that were carefully tucked in between her fingers.

Shiragi balled up her right hand as she scoffed a bit. "A frontal attack? Are you a moron?" She drew back and loosely shot her arm forward, easily piercing Rei's chest with her fist. Shiragi was instantly surprised because Rei was unharmed. In fact, Shiragi distinctively heard tiny cracking noises as she saw Rei's face start to shatter and crumble.

"A doppelganger? Crap!" Shiragi exclaimed as she glanced down and saw Rei's hand snatch her ankle from below.

Rei yanked and forcefully ripped Shiragi into the ground as she slipped out and towered above Shiragi. Shiragi was now stuck neck deep in the earth. She felt humiliated, though she was truly glad she had a mask hiding her facial expressions.

"Hardly impressive..." Shiragi let out a short yawn as she built chakra all through her body and busted free from her rocky prison. She sprang back and pulled out a scroll. Shiragi slipped the scroll in her hands as she made another kata. "Futon: Air blast!" Shiragi inhaled a deep breath as the winds started drawing in near her. After she had enough air, she blasted it out in a large amount of concentrated chakra when she exhaled.

"Oh great..." Rei groaned as she spotted the large blast of air coming towards her. The cork on the gourd behind her popped off and she made a few katas of her own. White sand emerged from the opening in the gourd as it created a wall in front of Rei.

When the air blast collided with the sand wall, the air was stopped but the sand was blown in every direction.

Rei spit a little and brushed herself off. She groaned and made an annoyed face. "Gross! I got sand in my mouth! That's so not cool!" She really hated this. The sand was all gritty and tasted salty. She couldn't keep from spitting a little more.

"I could expect someone from the Sand Village to be able to manipulate sand. It's all too common." Shiragi yawned again. "You're really starting to bore me."

Rei snarled a bit and flipped a few katas. The sand on the ground slowly rose up and clumped together into a large mallet made of sand. The mallet then painfully bashed Shiragi and knocked her into a building nearby. "How's that for boring?" Rei yelled out of anger.

Reio lightly slapped his forehead with his left hand and sighed. "Always so damn careless. Even a simple mistake can be fatal..."

"Now I'm starting to want to fight." Shiragi chuckled as she stepped back over and ripped out another scroll. "Suiton: Mighty Geyser!"

Water exploded from the ground beneath Rei and pushed her into the air. Shiragi used the advantage to launch into the air and spin kick Rei back into the ground. Rei hit the ground hard and tumbled on her side a few times as she stood up casually and popped her loosened bones back into place.

"Strange..." Shiragi pondered. "An impact like that should have broken her spine, or at least an arm."

"What's wrong?" Rei scoffed. "Is your old age getting to you?"

"You brat!" Shiragi shrieked as she dashed out and aimed to elbow Rei in the face.

Rei's eyes jerked open in surprise. "When did she start moving so fast? Her speed just increased out of nowhere!" Rei shouted in her mind as she was almost instantly struck in the face and knocked back. Before she even got up her katas were ready and the sand from her gourd tightly wrapped around Shiragi's ankles and flung her back through the air.

Shiragi rotated in the air and landed. She painstakingly skidded back on her hands and feet. The result of using her hands to stop her from going back felt shearing. "I'm getting irritated." Shiragi growled. "This is cutting into my time for gathering information." Shiragi reached for the katana behind her and unsheathed it. The metal of the blade scraping against the inside of its sheath. It clacked when the tip emerged. The sword only was revealed to be a foot long.

"You're going to... fight me with that butter knife?" Rei cocked an eyebrow inquisitively.

"That thing is puny." Kazuki stated as he glared in annoyance.

Shiragi chuckled a little as she quickly flicked her wrist and the katana separated into six pieces, all connected by a single chain. The length of the sword extended to six feet. "No, I'm going to fight you with this."

"I have no choice then..." Rei grabbed a pair of gauntlets off her back and slipped them on both of her hands. She gently pressed a switch on the palm part of it and activated a spring as two blades jumped from the structure of each gauntlet. The gauntlets now looked like a pair of claws that were coming from Rei's hands. Rei slowly tilted her head down as she let her bangs cover her eyes; an eerie expression drifted from Rei as she became even more serious than before. "Give Kazuki back or I'll kill you..."

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	4. Rei's determination

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"It's a shame I couldn't fight the girl myself." Reio snickered as he watched from the background. Perhaps he might have been enjoying the show a little too much.

"I'm a little impressed with Rei myself. I never imagined that she'd be such a fighting expert..." Kazuki thought to himself as he intently locked his eyes on the two females and their engaging battle. "I just have to find a way out of here before I can do anything."

"Let's finish this battle so I may be on my way." Shiragi lashed her sword out, yet even with its extended reach it hardly even touched Rei at all.

Rei smirked when she saw that she had nothing to worry about. Rei laughed, drastically dropping her guard. That was a very foolish mistake. "You miss... huh?"

When the tip of the sword was directly in front of her, Rei caught sight of Shiragi with a single handed kata. Chakra was shot through the blade and a blast of wind ripped out from the tip of the sword and forcefully shoved Rei back. Rei skidded on her feet before she fell backwards on her butt and looked down.

Rei's stomach was badly cut and bleeding, she jumped a bit, but got herself together as she stood up.

Shiragi quickly flicked her wrist, reverting her sword back to its foot long length. "You're a shinobi from the Land of Wind and you know nothing about the dangers of wind chakra nature? How sad..."

"Shut... shut up!" Rei screamed angrily as she aimed her right fist forward and activated another mechanism on her gauntlets with a firm press. The two blades on it, which were attached by chains, shot out towards Shiragi.

Shiragi jumped forward and lashed out her blade towards Rei quickly enough to throw her off trajectory.

Rei gracefully twisted herself to the right to avoid the tip of Shiragi's sword. The blades from the gauntlets kept moving as they caught Reio off guard and harshly pierced through his right arm.

"You little son of... Ah!" Reio carelessly ripped his arm away from the water prison as he grabbed his arm. The blades released themselves from his arm and retracted onto Rei's gauntlets. "Ah, that hurts!" The water prison was destroyed as Reio turned around slowly. "Awe shi..." was all he managed to say before Kazuki heavily slammed his fist into Reio's face.

"Idiot! What are you doing?" Shiragi shrieked, glancing over at Reio with rage in her voice. Her guard on Rei fell, causing her vulnerability to skyrocket.

The white sand slithered over and shaped a hand as it slowly wrapped around Shiragi's throat and constricted it carelessly. Rei was in the background focusing the sand with her hand.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't crush your neck?" Rei shouted, her voice sounded as vicious and cold as ice.

Shiragi struggled feebly as she made a few slower and weaker katas than normal. The wind picked up and sand was blown everywhere. Once the winds died down, Shiragi was gone.

"Genjutsu?" Rei jerked around cautiously. "...Where? She just... vanished."

Kazuki casually stepped over to where Reio had fallen to but saw nothing more than a puddle of water. "...He got away, I should have expected."

Rei put away her gauntlets and ran over. "Kazuki are you okay?"

"Some bodyguard..." He mumbled under his breath.

"I risked my life for you, jerk!" She yelled as she smacked him in the back of the head. "Come on let's go..." Rei commanded as she started walking away.

Once they came back into the Leaf Village, it was starting to get a little late. The sky was turning dark and the village was winding down.

"Let's report to Tsunade-shishô before it gets too late." Kazuki said as he pulled out the papers from earlier.

"I thought she said not to call her that anymore." Rei quirked inquisitively as she cocked an eyebrow.

"It's not going to stop me." Kazuki replied as he nodded his head to the guard in front of the Hokage mansion and walked inside to Tsunade's office.

Tsunade heard the door open as she looked up from her papers. "You're late, was there a problem? I'd hate to hear if there was."

Kazuki walked in and set the papers on Tsunade's desk as he sat down. "I see you got a new desk that quickly." He gave a quick sigh as he tilted his head down to avert his gaze from hers.

"Stop avoiding questions! What was the result of your assignment?"

Kazuki paused and said nothing. Then he shook his head and mumbled quietly under his breath.

"What was that?" Tsunade demanded sternly. From the recent events she wasn't too happy, especially with him. Waiting for results from the assignment was making her agitated. "You'd best speak up and respect your superiors. This isn't like you at all..." Tsunade sat back and tried to relax a bit. "This was an important assignment, and none of the others have reported in to me. I need to know what happened."

"The others that were assigned this mission are deceased." Kazuki reported. "They were found dead when we arrived."

"I would expect as much from the people of Tomoe Town." Tsunade said, her voice morphing into disappointment.

Kazuki looked up a little, but not enough to see his face still. His mood and this day were nothing that he wanted to talk about. "It wasn't the townspeople. The leader even confirmed this, but he had no intention of even reading the papers you had written."

"Well if it wasn't the people of the town, then who was it?"

"On our way back..." Kazuki started, pausing for a moment. "We were ambushed."

"Ambushed?" Tsunade sat up immediately. She became concerned. "Who ambushed you? What were their intentions?"

"It was a male and female. The man was a shinobi from the Mist Village, from my guess he was rouge. The female, I couldn't tell. She didn't have any kind of affiliation to any village or organization. She seemed like nothing more than a rouge. Although, she called herself Shiragi..."

"What were their intentions?"

Kazuki kept silent and said nothing.

"Kazuki! Answer me immediately!"

"They..." Rei stuttered from the background. "They wanted to capture Kazuki alive and interrogate him."

Kazuki got up and left the room. Both Tsunade and Rei watched and looked confused. Rei then turned back to Tsunade.

"He should be fine..." Tsunade sighed as she sat and stared at the desk.

"Hokage..." Rei said.

"What is it?" Tsunade looked up at Rei.

"I was wondering... Why does Kazuki call you Tsunade-shishô?"

Tsunade looked away for a moment briefly. "Oh, that..." She waited another second and then motioned Rei forward. "Kazuki has known me for a few years, before I was appointed the title of Hokage. I taught Kazuki some of the basics before he even became a Leaf Village shinobi, but nothing major... I can remember it well. Kazuki was actually... happier back then."

"You don't like talking about it do you?" Rei's expression filled with sadness.

Tsunade chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Maybe another time. It's getting late and I'm assuming you haven't eaten. You should go have dinner and get ready for tomorrow. I have an important mission for you two, so it's best that you're both prepared."

Rei nodded and turned away. "Good night Hokage..." She left out of the room and saw Kazuki standing next to the doorway. "Come on, let's go get some food."

After a little longer they arrived in front of a restaurant in the village.

"The Shuyasha, of all places?" Kazuki gave Rei and awkward glance.. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head slightly.

She looked to him and almost glared. "Something wrong?" She sternly tapped her foot on the ground as she placed her hands on her hips. Kazuki was starting to agitate her. She closed her eyes for a minute as she let out a disgruntled sigh. "If you don't like it, we can go to the Amaguriama and have some of those delicious dumplings I hear about!" When she opened her eyes again, Kazuki was already inside the Shuyasha. "Hey, wait a minute!" She shouted as she ran after him.

Soon after ordering and waiting around they had their meals brought to them and were in the middle of eating. They sat in their own private booth and away from most of the crowd. Both of them were sitting on one side of the table, and not next to each other.

"Mind telling me why you're always so rude?" Rei said to break the silence. She was still slightly mad, but not like before.

Kazuki kept eating and didn't look at her. "Why don't you mind your own business?" He snapped. "It's nothing you'd understand."

"Sure, like you know me that well..." Rei scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "I wonder how your parents put up with you."

"I wonder when you'll shut your mouth!" He shouted at her. His voice was quite louder than normal and his tone became fairly defensive.

Rei jumped a little and looked at him. Kazuki was furious; his breathing was a little heavier than normal. He sat there with his fists balled up. Normally Kazuki is short tempered, but this subject was something deep down that Kazuki wanted to avoid.

"Don't you ever... say anything about my parents, or my family!" He snarled.

Rei sat there for a minute as she looked at the table. "They're dead, aren't they...?"

Kazuki didn't say anything and went back to eating his food.

"I'm sorry... I don't have any family either though." She explained in an attempt to calm him down, although her attempt failed. "How did they...?"

"I did it..."

"Huh?"

"Their blood was shed... on my own hands. I just... ...don't want to talk about it." Kazuki stood up and set some ryo on the table to pay for his meal as he left.

"I wonder." Rei said to herself as she finished her food. Once Rei was done, she set her tab on the table and left.

Unaware to either of them, an ANBU in the background was watching them from outside. Wearing the same fox mask that Shiragi was wearing before.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	5. Pursuit on Akatsuki!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Days later another messenger hawk arrived and dropped a note off for Kazuki. He took the assignment papers and let the bird on its way. Rei arrived not long after and peeked over his shoulder. Kazuki ignored her looming as he continued to read the paper. Rei did as well until she got to the point where she started to feel a cold chill down her spine.

"...D-Does that say... pursuit and capture of Itachi Uchiha?" Rei stuttered a bit as she stepped back.

Kazuki folded the paper up and slipped it into his pocket. "What's the big deal? I'm not worried."

"Are you stupid?" Rei barked. "He's one of the worst! He's an Akatsuki at that!"

"If we fail, we fail. No big deal..."

"Way big deal! If we fail, we die!" Rei shrieked. "Go ask Hokage for another assignment!"

"Who made you the boss of me?" Kazuki snapped at her. "I am not in the mood, and I won't put up with you telling me what to do!"

"I am just concerned for your safety!" She screamed at him.

"Come on guys, if I didn't know any better, you'd sound like a married couple!" Another Konoha shinobi said as they walked over.

"...What do you want Kotetsu?" Kazuki grunted as he glared in his direction.

Kotetsu flashed Kazuki a smug grin and cracked his knuckles a bit. "Actually, it's what Hokage wants. Far as I'm concerned, I'm part of this assignment too."

"Let me guess, Izumo is coming too?" Kazuki asked as his expression turned to normal. Kazuki unsheathed the katana on his back and examined the blade a little.

"Yeah, of course, I think it'll be a little fun." Kotetsu chuckled a bit as he saw Kazuki messing with the sword. "You still got that thing, huh?"

Kazuki stared at the sheen of the blade's metal and let out a small sigh before he sheathed it again. "So what if I do? It's important to me..."

Rei stood back and watched as they conversed. She was slightly curious, but she didn't want to intrude. "I wonder what's going on... These must be buddies of Kazuki's, so they know more about him than I do, but it's not fair how he won't be nice to me." She thought to herself a bit longer before she jumped when she heard something behind her. "Eek!"

Kazuki and Kotetsu snapped their attention to Rei as they cocked their eyebrows.

"I didn't scare you did I? I really didn't plan on it." Izumo said as he stepped around Rei and into the group.

"N-No... I'm fine." Rei blushed out of embarrassment and turned her head to avoid facing the three males. "...Bunch of jerks." She mumbled under her breath.

Izumo motioned his hands around as he glanced around a bit. "So are we ready to head out, or are we just standing around here for no reason?"

Kazuki headed towards the village gates and outside the village itself. "Let's go... The quicker we find Itachi, the quicker we can come back."

Kotetsu caught up to Kazuki as he whispered in his ear a bit. "Hey, what's with that girl from Sunagakure? She's following us everywhere! Its a little creepy, don't you think?"

"Hey, quit whispering! You'd better not be talking about me!" Rei exclaimed as she followed behind them.

Kazuki glared a bit as he kept walking and didn't let what Rei said bother him. "Ignore her... You get used to it, people like that will go away eventually."

"I heard that you little brat!" Rei shrieked. "Why don't you tell them that I'm really your bodyguard?" Her left eye started twitching as she got angry. She made a little growling sound as she folded her arms.

"Bodyguard, eh?" Kotetsu said. "Why do you need a bodyguard?"

"Don't worry about it..." Kazuki said. "It's nobody's business."

* * *

Later that night, the four of them were sitting around a fire in a clearing in the nearby forest in Konoha no Kuni. They had just eaten their dinner and were beginning to share watch duties for enemies.

"I can't believe this mission is going to take a few days." Kotetsu groaned. "I didn't think it would be this difficult!"

"It could take longer if we don't get any information on Akatsuki." Izumo added.

Kotetsu groaned again. "Don't remind me..."

"I'll go take my shift." Kazuki said as he stood up and walked off into the forest a little ways.

The other three watched as Kazuki walked away. Once Kazuki was devoured by the shadows they looked back to the fire.

"...Hey guys..." Rei said, breaking the silence as Izumo and Kotetsu looked at her.

"Yeah, what is it?" Kotetsu asked as he sat in his place and relaxed a little.

Rei continued to stare at the fire. She took a pause before she said anything. "You guys know Kazuki pretty well. Why does he act the way he does?"

Izumo blinked a bit. "Act like what?" He asked her, although he didn't quite understand what she wanted to know.

"...Why is he so mean?" Rei asked. Her face was a little sad, which really confused the other two.

Of course they'd just met Rei, but no one has ever asked them something like this.

"From what we know, we though he was always like this." Kotetsu replied. "He really doesn't talk to people much. If anything, in his spare time, all he does is go off and train by himself." Kotetsu took a moment and remembered something. "Unless he's talking to Hinata."

"Hinata?" Rei questioned. "Who's Hinata?"

"She's the daughter of the Hyuga clan leader, Hiashi Hyuga." Izumo stated. "She's actually quite a shy girl, but she and Kazuki get along pretty well. Seeing as she always refers to him as Kazuki-shishô."

"That, and the other reason..." Kotetsu mumbled.

Rei looked up and cocked her right eyebrow. "Other reason? What other reason?"

They both looked at each other and stayed quiet for a second.

"What is it? What reason are you talking about?" Rei demanded.

"Kazuki has a connection to the Hyuga clan apparently. We don't know the details about it. Hokage has kept the information classified. All we know, is that it's about someone who tried to capture Kazuki." Izumo answered Rei.

"Capture Kazuki?" Rei thought to herself. "It must be Shiragi..."

Izumo added a little bit to it. "Also, from what we heard, Kazuki begged Hokage not to have the assassin pursued. He said it was someone he cared about, and he wouldn't allow them to be harmed."

Kotetsu looked over at Rei and started to speak. "Only a few people know the full truth."

"Those people are?" Rei asked, getting a little more curious. "If I know a little bit about him, maybe I can get him to be nicer." Rei thought to herself.

Kotetsu took a moment before he responded. "The only people that know; are Kazuki himself, Kakashi Hatake, and Lady Tsunade. Most likely, Kazuki's told Hinata though, that must be why they're so friendly with each other."

Rei sat there and thought to herself a bit before she had an idea on it. "I know who it is!" She thought to herself. "That girl from back home at Sunagakure... I remember, I was supposed to keep the fact that she carried the Byakugan a secret. Even though Kazekage wanted to tell Konoha, the Daiyamo of Suna no Kuni wouldn't allow it. ...I know who it is..."

"I carry the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan from Konohagakure. Although; I was born here in Sunagakure. So I've come to serve my people, and do what's right... ...It's something, I promised I'd do. A promise I made; to my best friend..." Rei heard those words echo in her head as she imagined the silhouette of the person.

"Hey, you okay?" Kotetsu asked as he looked a little confused.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rei replied as she smiled a little.

* * *

The next day the team was on the move. Their objective was an attempt at any information on Itachi Uchiha and Akatsuki. Capturing Itachi alive and bringing him back to Konoha for interrogation was greatly appreciated.

"Any idea where Itachi could be?" Kotetsu asked as the group dashed through the forest of Konoha no Kuni.

"Not a clue. We'll be lucky if we find him..." Kazuki replied, leading the group in any direction he thought was right.

"Do you think we'll have any luck in catching Itachi?" Izumo asked.

"I doubt it." Kotetsu replied to him.

"Just don't let your guard down." Kazuki said.

* * *

Meanwhile in a field nearby, two figures were standing out in the darkness of the dissipating rain clouds. The sun started to shine down over the field and brighten everything around.

"It seems we have a few visitors heading this way; Kisame."

"Really? Sounds entertaining. Plus, Samehada is eager to find out what their chakras are like just from the way you said that." Kisame chuckled to himself as he snatched the hilt of a large sword on his back.

"Should we wait for their arrival?"The first figure, Itachi asked his partner. Itachi's Akatsuki cloak was blowing in the soft breeze of the air brought after the rain that had just passed.

"I'm not sure. What do you think, Samehada?" Kisame asked as he swung the sword down in front of himself.

Samehada shifted around a bit and gave noises of pleasure as it sensed the chakra of the Konoha group approaching.

Kisame grinned when he saw the group emerge from the forest. He stepped forward and waited for them to catch sight of the two Akatsuki.

Immediately the Konoha group found Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. They first saw Kisame standing there with Samehada ready in his hands.

"They must of sensed us coming." Kotetsu scoffed as he glared over and held up his guard.

"I guess we'll have to be careful not to get caught next time." Izumo said as he stepped back only once with his left foot to position himself.

"Itachi, I think I'll have the fun this time." Kisame said as he grinned even more.

Kazuki grabbed the katana on his back and gripped the sheath loosely. "I'll go first..."

"Wait a minute Kazuki!" Rei said. "These guys are dangerous!"

"I'll be fine..." Kazuki growled.

"It's better this way. We don't know much about how these guys fight, so someone has to do it." Kotetsu said.

"We'll be right behind you if you need us." Izumo said putting a hand on his shoulder from behind.

Kazuki nodded and stepped forward. "Itachi Uchiha, by the orders of Godaime Hokage, you will come with us and be interrogated for information on Akatsuki."

"You'll have to get through me first." Kisame laughed a bit.

"What an interesting one..." Itachi said to himself.

"Rei..." Kotetsu said as he readied himself. "When I give the signal, we'll diverse and attack them in groups of two. You assist Kazuki, got it?"

"When you're with us, you're part of the assignments too." Izumo said as he smirked a little towards Rei.

Kazuki dashed towards Kisame unarmed. He charged in at a normal speed with no intent to kill him, not yet.

Kisame smirked and gripped Samehada's hilt tighter. "Insolent kid. Rushing into an enemy like that is something an idiot would do!" Kisame drew back and readied himself with Samehada as he swung down and slashed at Kazuki.

Kazuki vanished in a puff of smoke as a log appeared in his place. The log fell in two pieces, landing softly on the grass of the field. Kazuki had switched himself with a log and positioned himself behind Kisame.

"Who's the idiot now?" Kazuki mocked Kisame from behind.

Kisame grunted a bit as he turned his head to Kazuki and saw his kata. "Tiger huh? Your katon jutsu efforts are useless against me."

"It's not katon jutsu..." Kazuki smirked. "Konohagakure no Sato secret taijutsu! One thousand years of death!" Kazuki shouted as he slammed his hand into Kisame's backside and launched him into the air.

Itachi scoffed and closed his eyes out of embarrassment. "Such an immature tactic."

Kisame grunted when he landed on the ground face first. "Little punk." Kisame snarled as he stood up and jerked around. Kisame created a few kata to prepare for his next move. "Suiton: Water Shark Jutsu!" Kisame spit liquid from his mouth and it turned into the form of a shark. The direction of Kisame's attack headed straight for Kazuki in a direct approach.

Kazuki made a few katas of his own, counteracting with his own jutsu. "Doton: Rushing Stone Wolf!"

The ground next to Kazuki rose up and created the shape of a wolf. The animal howled into the sky as it leaped into the head and lowered its head. The wolf collided with the shark as the wolf ripped through the shark's body. The shark splattered into water and the wolf continued to aim for Kisame.

Kisame glared and swung Samehada as it sliced the wolf in two. The wolf fell and crumbled to pieces of stone.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Kisame barked as he laughed at Kazuki. He threw Samehada on his back and made another kata with his hands. "Hidden Mist Jutsu." The air became heavy as Kisame vanished in the thick mist that appeared. "You'll need luck to beat me now kid."

Kazuki glanced around. It was hardly visible for anyone to see, expect Kisame most likely. Kazuki reached back and gripped the hilt of his katana lightly and waited. He whipped around and the metal of his sword clashed with Samehada's skin as a clinging sound was heard.

"Impossible! There's no way you could of seen me coming." Kisame snarled as he pushed on Samehada to beat Kazuki in a battle of strength.

Kazuki smirked a bit and pushed back with his own katana. "I didn't see you... I smelled your blood!"

Kazuki and Kisame both jumped apart from each other. Samehada made noises of pleasure, during the strength contest it had drained a little of Kazuki's chakra and Samehada began to devour it.

"Well, whatever you did really seems to be getting Samehada riled up. I may have to get serious after all." Kisame grinned a bit as he spoke.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	6. No chance! Kazuki vs Kisame!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"You're real funny, you know that kid?" Kisame laughed a bit. "I'll enjoy ripping you to pieces!"

"Just shut your mouth and fight before I make you into a meal." Kazuki said, getting agitated.

Kisame only laughed harder as he tightened his grip on Samehada. "You're going to make me into a meal, eh? A meal for what?"

Kazuki took a deep bite into his right hand. Blood started to seem from the bite and run down his palm. Kazuki began making katas with his hand as he slammed his palm on the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu! Art of Summoning!"

A moderate sized explosion occurred as a low growling sound came from the position. An adolescent sized wolf appeared in place. The wolf had smooth gray fur and blue eyes. A katana was sheathed on its back and there was a black bandanna with the word 'Misery' written in kanji on it. The wolf snarled at glared at Kisame.

"A meal for my friend here." Kazuki said as he too glared at Kisame.

Kisame grabbed his side with one hand and started to laugh even harder. "You expect a mutt like that to be able to hold its own against me?"

"Kisame, quit fooling around." Itachi said from the background. "If you won't pay attention then I'll have to interfere."

"Yeah, I hear you!" Kisame replies as he smirks and makes a hand motion to the wolf. "Come get me you fleabag!"

Kazuki nodded and smirked a bit. "Sick 'em Radion!"

Radion, the wolf snarled again at Kisame as the fur on his body stood up and sharpened. Radion launched into the air and started to tumble towards Kisame from in the air.

"Too easy!" Kisame barked as he threw Samehada in front of himself and blocked the spinning onslaught of Radion's attack.

While Kisame was distracted, Kazuki had his katas performed and ready. "Katon: Fireball jutsu!" He shouted as he blasted a large fireball at Kisame.

Kisame swung Samehada at the fireball and used it to absorb the jutsu's chakra. "C'mon, you can do better than that kid!"

Radion jumped back to avoid the attack and lowered his fur back onto his body. "I've messed with fish much more disgusting than you!" Radion sat up for a minute and slapped his paws together. He opened his mouth wide and performed one of his own jutsu. "Futon: Canine Screech!" A large current of wind shot out of his mouth and created a spiral as it aimed for Kisame head on.

Kisame held Samehada up to block as the gust blew passed him. The spiraling tunnel effect swirled around Kisame and inflicted him with a few small cuts. "Are you finished?" Kisame mocked. "I'm getting tired of meddling around, because I'm just getting started!" Kisame set Samehada behind himself and made the katas for his next jutsu. "Suiton: Exploding Water Bomb!"

Itachi shifted positions to a distance from the area. His expression hadn't changed, nor did his interest in the situation.

Water exploded from the earth when the jutsu activated. The area around Kazuki and Kisame was now surrounded by water and the two combatants; and Radion, were now standing on top of the vast semi-lake arena.

"Time for my next attack! Suiton: Five Hungry Sharks!" Kisame shouted as he watched his technique take effect.

In the water five sharks emerged, they each separated into different directions as a diversion. Four of the sharks surrounded Radion and circled the wolf until they all cam inward and attacked. When Radion was struck by the sharks, he vanished in smoke as he was summoned away and was now no longer part of the fight.

"Crap." Kazuki said as he had to think of new tactics, until it hit him. "Wait! Where's the fifth shark?" Kazuki glanced around and looked frantically for the shark.

"It's too late kid!" Kisame laughed.

The shark zoomed through the water from underneath Kazuki and then finally it attacked and yanked Kazuki under the water.

"Kazuki!" Rei shouted from the background. The only thing she saw from where she was ended up as a flash of Kazuki being yanked under the water.

Izumo glanced over and Kotetsu and said something to him with just his expression.

"Hey Rei." Kotetsu said. "Remember that signal I was talking about?"

"Huh?" Rei asked as she turned to him.

Kotetsu grabbed the weapon off his back and ran towards the fight. "That was the signal!"

Izumo leaped forward to catch up to Kotetsu as he started running into the battle area.

Rei nodded to herself and sand poured out of her gourd. The sand created a platform that she stepped on to and guided herself with the platform towards the battle.

"Awe, I'm disappointed." Kisame said as the water started to vanish. "I was just starting to have fun!"

Kazuki was lying on the ground, wet and damp as he lay there and made no attempt to get up.

"Ya know Itachi; this kid would make a good spy for us." Kisame said as he looked back.

Itachi appeared beside Kisame and closed his eyes. "Perhaps..." Itachi said as his hand suddenly twitched for a second.

The Konoha group appeared in front of the Akatsuki members. Kazuki groaned as he continued to lie on the ground. Rei knelt over and held one of his arms over her shoulder to carry him.

"That's enough. It's over Itachi." Kotetsu said as he glared at him with his own weapon in his hands. "You can't get away now."

Kazuki coughed a bit as he looked up to Kisame and started to stand on his own.

"You idiot, you're going to get hurt!" Rei shouted at Kazuki as she tried to force him to rest.

"We've got it from here, you don't need to worry." Izumo said without looking behind himself.

Kazuki gripped his katana tightly as he struggled to stand.

Kotetsu caught Kazuki in his peripheral vision. "Will you calm down already? We can handle this!"

"Get out of my way!" Kazuki screamed as he started to run and pushed himself right between Kotetsu and Izumo.

"I'm done playing games." Itachi said as he opened his eyes finally. "Amater…" Itachi wasn't able to finish what he was about to say before he saw Kazuki right in front of himself. Itachi had been stabbed by Kazuki's katana. Itachi began to bleed from his stomach as he smiled at Kazuki and his body separated into dozens of crows.

"A genjutsu." Kazuki snarled. He felt something wrong for a second and turned his head to see Samehada aiming for his head.

Kotetsu jumped in front of Kisame's sword and blocked with his own weapon. Kotetsu and Kisame both jumped back away from each other.

"Kisame." Itachi said as he appeared in the distance. "We have other matters to attend to. Let us leave."

Kisame turned his head back and looked at Itachi for a moment before he put Samehada away and vanished with his partner.

"Ah!" Kazuki grunted as he fell to one knee. "He stole too much of my chakra…"

"Well it's what you get for acting stupid!" Rei said as she walked over and helped support him. She looked over to Kotetsu and Izumo. "I'll take him home." She said.

"Alright. We'll take what info we can to Hokage." Kotetsu replied as he left with Izumo.

"You idiot!" Rei exclaimed as she smacked Kazuki upside the head.

Kazuki coughed a bit and shivered from being drenched in water. "Somebody had to do it."

Rei glared at him as she became a little more annoyed. "Yeah; well it doesn't excuse you for acting stupid."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kotetsu and Izumo had arrived at Tsunade's office and informed her on the mission details. Once they finished, they left the room.

Tsunade sat at her desk and let out a long sigh while looking at a paper in front of herself. "Twenty-thousand ryo in damages to Tomoe Town." She said to herself.

"I'm sure it's a little exaggerated Milady. You know how those anti-shinobi territories are. Trying to squeeze money out of us any chance they can get." Shizune said to her from the side. She flashed Tsunade a nervous smile while holding her pet, Tonton, to her chest. She was afraid if anything that Tsunade would get angry.

Tsunade shook her head and took a little breath. "It's not about the money. Although I suppose you're right about the exaggeration of their expenses."

Rei came in a few moments later. "Hokage..." She started before she saw Tsunade hold up a hand to stop her from talking.

"I already know." Tsunade said. "The mission was a failure... somewhat. I'll just let you know, if Kazuki fails one more time from his stubbornness. He will be put on probation."

"I understand Hokage." Rei replied. "I just want to ask something."

Tsunade looked confused as she sat up in her chair. "What is it?"

Rei took a moment before she started speaking. "I want you to tell me everything you can about Kazuki."

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter (and their creator); Radion (Ryu-Kazuki)


	7. Old memories of the sensei and student

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"Ahh... Some nice warm herbal tea goes great before a nice bottle of hot sake." Tsunade cooed as she stretched and relaxed out on the open landscape of Konoha no Kuni. "I haven't relaxed like this in years."

"Well, I hate to interrupt." A voice said from Tsunade's back.

She glanced behind herself and looked slightly annoyed. "Why would you even dare?"

The figure behind Tsunade was an older man in his fifties. He wore a black cloak and had white hair. On his back there was a large scroll and a bladed weapon. "Oh, I have a proposition for you... Tsunade."

"A proposition?" Tsunade asked as she turned around and put a hand on her hip. "What kind of proposition Akiyama?"

The man, Akiyama, smirked a bit and pulled a bag of ryo out of his cloak. "I'll play a simple card game with you. If you win, you get this three thousand five hundred ryo."

"If I lose?" Tsunade asked.

"If you lose..." Akiyama said as he looked over his shoulder. "You train this child."

Behind Akiyama was a young boy with bushy black hair, and blue eyes. He wore a black shirt and blue shorts, keeping his eyes locked on the ground. Along with all that, he also had a cast wrapped around his left leg.

"Why can't the boy's parents take care of him?" Tsunade snapped. "I'd rather put up my own money instead of wasting my time to train some brat. I don't teach my skills to just anyone..."

"Because..." Akiyama said as the expression on his face became cold and seemed to be made of stone. "They're dead."

Tsunade winced a bit and glared. "Why did you choose me for this?"

"I figured you were the best teacher for him."

"What do you expect me to do...?"

"I just want him to learn the basics; I've already signed him as part of my summoning contract."

"If he doesn't know the basics, why did you teach him something so advanced?"

"He'll need it..."

"What do I do when he's done with my training?" Tsunade asked as she folded her arms and kept glaring at Akiyama.

"Direct him to Konoha... I know Hokage will take care of him."

"Alright, forget the gamble then... But I'll expect the money as requirement."

Akiyama smirked and threw the bag of ryo to Tsunade. "As you wish." He turned to the boy and motioned to Tsunade. "She'll be your sensei now, respect her and do as she says." With that Akiyama vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade looked at what used to be the bag of ryo in her hands as she became angered. When Akiyama left, the bag had turned into a slip of paper. "An I.O.U.? You cheap bastard Akiyama!" Tsunade sighed, crumpling the paper and tossing it to the side. She noticed the boy becoming tense and shifted her position. "So, what's your name, kid?"

The boy looked away for a moment and shivered a bit as he shook his head. "I'm... Kazuki..." He said meekly as he looked depressed.

She blinked, her eye twitching slightly. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's it to you, you old hag?" The young boy, Kazuki; snapped at her as he glared. He fell on his knee and winced a bit from the pain in his leg as he held on to the cast and started pouting. He shook his head and began shaking as tears fell from his eyes. He kept in his position and started to cry.

She took in what had happened, and bent over a bit. "Are... you okay?" She got down on her knees, reaching an arm out to the cast. "C'mon, kid… don't cry..."

He shook his head as tears flew in all directions. "Y-You don't understand... It hurts!"

Tsunade sighed as her hand began to glow. "Just stay still..." She placed her hands over the cast, her eyes closed.

"...That's not what hurts..."

She looked at him. "Then what does?"

He continued to cry. "It's… My p-parents…"

She retracted her hands, looking at the ground. No kid deserved this. "...It'll be okay, Kazuki." She put one hand on the top of his head. "Everything will be fine, got it?"

"...You don't understand..." He began shaking a bit as he clutched his chest and his eyes shot open. "I... I..."

She squinted a bit, a crease appearing in her eyebrows.

His breathing became heavy a bit as he started becoming frantic. "I... Killed them with my own hands!"

She brought her hand from his head a bit, curling her fingers. Her eyebrows narrowed. How could a kid like this kill his parents? It was unheard of... "What do you mean…you…killed them?"

"I was put under a genjutsu... And... And... I killed them!" He kept crying and continued to shake his head.

"Then it's not your fault." She sighed, closing her eyes.

"...It hurts so much..."

"..I know." She stood up, reaching out a hand to help him up.

He stood up and took a deep breath. "...My leg doesn't hurt anymore, I don't need the cast now..."

"We'll take it off somewhere inside." She said, scratching her forehead. "I don't have the proper equipment with me…"

He nodded a bit in response.

She began walking in the direction of the INN she has been staying at, adjusting her coat. "Come on, then."

Kazuki followed her without question as he looked towards the ground.

She realized, after a while, that her assistant must be out looking for her. She had left her at the sauna…

She looked down at him a bit. "There's an inn that we will be staying at," She said, taking his hand. "That's where we're going."

"When does my training start?"

She pondered it briefly. "Tomorrow, once we get you some new clothes."

"Okay." He replied as he clutched her hand a bit harder and nodded a bit.

Tsunade looks down at the young boy and sighed as she gripped his hand a bit harder to match his grip. She then took her fist step into the inn and led the small boy down the halls and to the front of her door. She opened it and walked in as she reached out her unoccupied hand to turn on the lights. The room had a faint smell of sake with a hint of lavender.

"It smells in here!" The boy exclaimed as he took his hand away and pinched his nose with one hand. The other was waved in his face to disrupt the cloud of sake aroma that attempted to invade his nostrils. "It's so gross..."

She rolled her eyes as she let go of the boys hand and went to her bedroom to get the equipment she needed to take the young boy's cast off.

He backed himself into a corner and hid away as he sat down and curled into a little ball. This new sensei was the only person he had left in his life right now.

After a few minutes Tsunade came back with a box in her hands."Alright I've got the stuff why do-" She stopped as she looked up to see the boy curled up in a ball in the corner of the room."What's wrong now?" She said as she walked towards him slowly as she placed the box on a table nearest to her.

"Nothing... I'm fine."

"Well why don't you get up and have a seat over here so we can take off the cast...Alright?" She said in a calm voice so she didn't irritate the boy in anyway. She patted the chair that was next to her.

He complied and stepped over as he sat in the chair and hung his head low.

Tsunade took out something to break the cast and began to take it off. When she was finished she put the cast aside and the equipments back in the box. She then looked at him and spoke, "Better?" She asked.

He nodded a bit. "Yes, thank you..."

Tsunade looked out the window and saw the sun falling behind the sky. "It's that late already?" She asked herself out loud. "Well, I suppose you should start getting your rest. Training won't be as easy as you think." She said to Kazuki without looking at him.

There was no response.

"Hmm? Kazuki?" She turned around and found him already asleep in the chair he'd been sitting in.

"Alright, it's time to get up!" Tsunade exclaimed early the next morning.

Kazuki shook his head a bit and opened his eyes. "…What time is it?"

"It's seven, we're heading out to go get you some clothes and then we'll begin the basics of chakra control." Tsunade said, already at the door.

"Five more minutes…" Kazuki replied as he slouched into the chair and closed his eyes.

Tsunade's eye twitched for a moment as she grabbed the chair and snatched it out from under him. Kazuki fell to the floor and hit his head with a thud. That ought to have woken the boy up. Tsunade grabbed him by the wrist and left the hotel, heading into the market area nearby.

They'd come across a few places, and Tsunade of course, generously paid for a new outfit for Kazuki. Strangely enough it looked exactly like the one he had before, but in better condition.

"Well, since that's taken care of… we can go somewhere secluded in the outskirts and work on your chakra control training." She said as they headed out to a spot in an open field. "This looks fair enough.

The daylight was shining down on the field, only a single tree nearby and a few electrical posts. It was peaceful and rather calming, the perfect spot for training.

"We're going to begin now, are you ready?" Tsunade asked.

He nodded a bit. "Yes… Tsunade-shishô."

Tsunade was puzzled for a moment from the response, but she let it pass and they began training.

They trained for a few days to near a week. Kazuki had done about an average amount of work. For a starter he wasn't that bad, but he had a long way to go before he ever became good at it. One thing that surprised Tsunade was Akiyama 'forgetting' to tell Tsunade that this boy came from a clan that had a Kekkei Genkai… Tsunade wasn't too happy, but she let Kazuki train and better himself.

It was nearing the last day as Kazuki had his new things packed and carried on his back. It started raining a bit. There weren't too far from Konohagakure as Tsunade let him on his way, after giving him a little departure gift. A peck on the forehead which made him blush for only a minute, and a pat on the back to get him going.

* * *

Tsunade let out a sigh as she averted her gaze from Rei. "Sometimes it makes me wonder what happened to him myself."

Rei glanced at the floor. "I don't really know what to say. I can understand why I was hired for this assignment."

"Well that and it'll help relations with Sunagakure. Either way, I don't see anything bad coming out of this. I just don't want things to become hectic and turn into uncontrolled chaos." Tsunade said as she looked a little sad.

"I'll do my best…" Rei replied.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	8. Shiragi strikes again

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Kazuki had just left the Hyuga main household, walking down the street and talking with Hinata. Kazuki had a strong relation with Hinata because of something that few people knew, a secret that was kept from Hiashi, Hinata's father. So Kazuki would visit and pay his respects to the Hyugas anytime he could.

"You know, I wonder why you keep calling me Kazuki-sensei." He said without looking to Hinata and keeping his eyes focused ahead of him. "I mean, I'm only a year older than you."

Hinata paused for a minute before she spoke. "Well… um… I, you know why, I have my reasons."

"That's not really a reason. I understand you have higher respects for me, and I'm a higher level shinobi. Although, it's better that your father doesn't know about the incident last year… I'm surprised Hokage has kept it away from him for this long." He said as he touched the scar on the side of his face. "Anyway… How have you been holding up without Naruto around?"

Hinata stopped for a minute as her face instantly flushed.

Kazuki stopped and rolled his eyes. "Why did I even ask…?"

They started walking again. There was really no purpose for it, just a walk and some fresh air. As they did, the day started to retire. A figure was watching the both of them from around a back corner in the darkness.

Reio's voice came from the corner as he tapped his headset. "I've got him in sight."

"Wait until the designated time, and then you know what to do." Shiragi's voice echoed from on the other side of the radio.

"If this ends up like last time, then you're gonna pay for it!" Reio shouted back.

"Just shut up and keep your eyes on the target!"

Reio shook his head and watched for the sun to lower itself into the horizon. "Come on already… It shouldn't be this much trouble to capture a brat!"

The sun ducked down below the horizon finally. That was the cue he was waiting for. He engulfed his hands in chakra and started climbing up the side of the building next to him as if his hands were like the suction cups of a cephalopod. Reio crouched down and flipped on the night light of his binoculars and locked onto Hinata. He stood up, put the binoculars away, forming one kata, he spit a large blot of ink in her direction. The large bit of ink hit and Hinata instantly screamed, being pinned to the side of a building with the substance that quickly hardened.

Reio kept a mutual expression on his face, speaking to himself. "Phase one complete. The bait is set…" Reio spit another blot of it in front of Kazuki before he could reach Hinata. "If you want her kept alive, you'd better give yourself up."

Kazuki stopped in place and glared as he slowly turned around. "You're the Kirigakure shinobi from Tomoe Town… Why did you follow me?"

"Don't even waste my time you stupid little… Just hurry up, I have other things to worry about!" Reio screamed.

"Gladly..." Kazuki replied from behind Reio. Kazuki also had the blade of his katana at Reio's throat. The katana in his hand, entitled 'Loveless', was only an inch away from Reio's throat.

"You're a stupid one, that's for sure." Reio smirked and his body exploded into a burst of water. The real Reio was still hiding in the alleyway. He stepped out and stretched his arms a bit. "This won't take me too long."

Kazuki stood up and spit some of the water out of his mouth. His hair matted down onto his face and his eyebrows knitted into a glare.

Hinata struggled in the background frantically against the substance that held her into submission. She managed to slip her arms through a little and slapped her hands together. "Byakugan!" She whispered to herself, the veins near her ears bulged out and her white pupils locked onto Reio's chakra signature. She noticed something on his back that had a slightly more compact amount of chakra compared to his own. She immediately shouted. "Sensei, look-out for the-!" She was cut off by another blot of Reio's ink hitting her in the face.

"That should shut you up! You damn little brat!" He shouted at her.

Kazuki rushed Reio during the distraction, he made katas while in mid-rush and the Loveless' blade whizzed with wind based chakra. "Shinobi Art: Wind sheering kodachi style!" He lashed at Reio and slashed him horizontally across his torso from right to left.

Reio staggered back and shook his head. He had a deep gash across his torso, so he bent down to some of the water on the ground and dipped his fingers in it, running them across the wound and healed it slightly with his chakra. "You may be able to attack me, but it doesn't mean you can win." Reio slapped his hands together a few times and water covered them like gloves. He dashed at Kazuki and spun himself around on one foot, punching Kazuki in the face and the stomach every time he rotated. He came back around and punched Kazuki in the face one last time, knocking him back into a pile of crates next to a building. "Suiton: Whirlpool Strike." Reio stood up straight and yawned. "You gonna just keep letting me knock you around, or are you going to give up?"

Kazuki glared a flipped his middle finger at Reio. "Bite me!"

Hinata struggled and shouted with her muffled voice.

Kazuki turned to her and kept glaring. "Don't worry Hinata," he thought, "I'll get you out of there, once I kick this guy's ass!"

Reio cracked his back and snarled. "That really wasn't smart." He flipped a few katas and three water clones appeared next to him. The real Reio punched his fist into the ground and a spout of water appeared around Kazuki. The clones took off. They started running around the spout and started to make it rotate. Once they had circled it enough, they each turned inward and held their palms out forward in a unique kata, water burst from their palms and fired directly at Kazuki as it hit him hard.

Kazuki lay on the ground, coughing water out of his mouth.

"You're lucky I'm not allowed to kill you." Reio said as he wiped the mark on his chest again to patch himself up.

Kazuki struggled and coughed out more water. He made the sign of tiger and blasted fire out of his mouth. The burst aiming at Reio.

Reio jerked and saw the flames as he jumped to the side and skid on the ground. He smirked a bit. "You missed me, you idiot!"

Kazuki smiled a bit and held his stomach. "I wasn't trying to attack you."

Cracking sounds were heard as the ink started to break. Hinata glared at Reio and burst out of the dried ink.

Reio looked annoyed. "Awe shit..."

Hinata rushed at Reio and struck her fingers on his torso and the areas where his legs met his hips. She spun around and knocked him across the face, leaving Reio lying on the ground with a temporary paralysis.

A small gust of wind blew as Shiragi appeared next to Reio. "You disappoint me, plus you exceeded the time limit." She knelt down to pick him up, keeping an eye on Hinata in case she'd try to attack. "Until next time Kazuki..." She said as she made a single kata and vanished with Reio.

Hinata ran over to Kazuki and knelt beside him. "Sensei, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help."

Kazuki smirked a bit, "It's not your fault… You did what you could." He coughed up more water and passed out.

Rei appeared next to Kazuki's unconscious body and shook her head. "Guess I'm not a very good bodyguard..." She turned to Hinata. "You can go home, I'll take him."

Hinata nodded in return and started off towards her home.

"Jeez, you can't take one day without ending up in the hospital." Rei said to her unconscious comrade.

* * *

Tsunade's office door opened up as a silhouette stepped into the room.

"You requested to see me Tsunade-sama?" the figure said as they stepped into the room.

Tsunade, who had just finished her paperwork for the night and was about to leave, turned to the figure, "Anko, I'm glad you arrived. So I assume you've made your decision about taking your next mission?"

"Yes, I've decided to accept in the arrest of the capture of said criminal."

"You know you'll be working with Kazuki on this, correct?"

"Yes, I am. I'm prepared."

"I gave the whereabouts to his bodyguard. She can give you both the details on where he has last been seen."

"Can I at least know where?"

"It's somewhere near the borderline of Tetsu no Kuni. You are dismissed." Tsunade said as she escorted Anko out of the room.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	9. The rogue, Kade

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

This chapter was written with help by MedaK.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

About a few days later; Kazuki, Rei, and Anko were on the trail to the designated area near Tetsu no Kuni. A blizzard had started to stir somewhat. Snow blew down from the sky as the three of them pressed onward.

"Kazuki's been awfully quiet lately ever since he found out the details on the target." Rei said. "He's been heading forward on his own with that scowl on his face."

"It's not something I know about, I'm not really concerned either. The only important thing is to keep pressing onward." Anko replied.

Kazuki had unsheathed Loveless and gripped the hilt of the blade tightly. Something didn't settle in his mind, and he was hiding his infuriating anger inside him. "I'll slaughter him when I see him." Kazuki snarled.

"So much hostility. Does Kazuki even know this person?" Rei asked. She was slightly worried and questioning what the situation was at the moment.

"I really have my doubts. Ever since I've known the kid, he's never liked anyone from the Uchiha clan. Why? I don't know. I'm a little wary though; Sasuke and Itachi were supposed to be the only ones alive. Hokage knows about something that we don't."

Rei looked away and knitted her eyes a little. "Yeah... Anyway, we should head to the designated stopping point before we confront the enemy. How can we make sure Kazuki won't try to leave?"

"We can think of something when we get there." Anko said. She lightly scratched the inactive cursed seal on the back of her neck. "I suppose we should keep an eye on him for now."

Rei thought for a moment and stepped up her speed to catch up to Kazuki. "Kazuki…" she said to him lightly.

"What do you want…?" he snarled.

"I just wanted to see what was on your mind."

"It's none of your business."

"I still want to know."

Kazuki rolled his eyes and kept on marching through the snow. "You're right; it's never stopped you before."

Rei glared, she stopped her foot and growled. "You're the most thick-headed, childishly incompetent moron, that I've ever had to deal with! How anyone can even stand you is beyond me!" She stood there, somewhat expecting a response.

Kazuki kept going in the same direction with the scowl he had before. "Tell me something that I might care about!" he replied.

Anko passed Rei, which urged Rei to press on. Rei said nothing.

"Just let it go, we don't need any arguments on this assignment." Anko said to Rei without looking back.

* * *

After about two hours they reached their stopping point. It was a hotel in the outskirts of a nearby city. The blizzard had made the area a bit dark, so the hotel had to have the lights on to let people know where it was.

Rei gave a sigh of relief as she stretched a bit. "Wow, we finally made it. That snow was beating us down hard and I am so tired." She smiled a bit, slightly accomplished with herself on the inside.

"Let's go.. I'm starting to get pissed off!" Kazuki said as he walked straight into the hotel. He wanted to get the room business straightened out right away and the if it came to, immediately find his target. Even if it meant leaving Rei and Anko behind.

Sitting upon a chair in the waiting room was a boy known as Kade. Long tresses on a snow white hue cascaded down the back of the chair as his head rested on the back of the couch, his eyes closed in deep relaxation.

Kazuki stepped inside the hotel with a glare on his face. As he entered, the bell to the door gave a slight jingle to let others know that someone had arrived. He approached the counter and waited. He couldn't do much because Rei and Anko split the papers concerning the reservations up between each other so Kazuki couldn't try anything suspicious. So, he stood at the counter, and waited impatiently.

The jingle of the bells rang annoyingly in Kade's ear, his pools of pure obsidian slowly opened, falling upon the forms of the three that had entered the establishment.

Rei had the feeling of being watched. She and Anko had handed the papers to the clerk by then and were now getting the keys to the rooms. The two girls would get a room on both sides of Kazuki's, in the event he tries to leave without them noticing, the other should be able to catch him. Kazuki had this same feeling as he scanned the waiting room. His eyes fell upon Kade as he glared.

Kade's eyes met the eyes of Kazuki, a soft sigh escaped his lips as he just watched them.

Kazuki snarled a bit and instantly flicked a tagged kunai from his pouched and jumped back to avoid the outward blast of the future explosion when the kunai made impact with anything.

Kade's eyes reading his body movement as his hand removed a regular kunai tossing in the way of the oncoming tagged kunai. As the explosion began to spread his body flickered, his form dancing around the flames until he stood beside Kazuki. "I love fireworks, don't you?"

Rei immediately started screaming at Kazuki. "What do you think you're doing you idiot? You're not only attacking a harmless civilian, you're trying to destroy this place! Have you lost your mind?"

Kazuki didn't even bother to look at Rei as he noticed Kade's chakra signature behind him. All he said to Rei was, "Shut up..." He pulled Loveless from its sheath on his back, the flames dancing lively on the reflection of the golden blade. With a bit of increased speed, he jerked around to Kade, slowing down near the end of his turn, and pushed Kade with a bit of increased strength, enough to make him move back a few yards. He held Loveless down to his side and glared. "By order of Gondaime Hokage, and the elders of Konohagakure. You are hereby under arrest, if you resist, I have the authority to kill you... Kade Uchiha."

Within Kade's emerald haori, a single kata was made as he pushed off his right foot, jumping back a few feet out of the way of the push, his eyes mutating into a three-tomoe sharingan.

Kazuki scoffed and sighed a bit, though on the inside he was thrilled, exhilarated, and ready to kill this opponent. "I guess I have no choice..." He rushed Kade with his speed and swung Loveless in a simple upward diagonal swing of the blade.

As his eyes fell upon Kazuki, a genjutsu would activate throwing Kazuki in a void of darkness. A chill would flow throw his being, his mother and father standing before him, yet with sharingan eyes, to throw his concept of reality into question which would paralyze him as he remained trapped in the genjutsu.

Kazuki froze and his position became a straightened posture with Loveless at his side. The forms of his parents appeared before him. His eyes widened and he dropped the sword. His began breathing heavily and shaking. The sharingan eyes would have given away the fact of illusion, but just seeing the forms of his parents made him break down.

Kazuki fell to his knees and grabbed the sides of his head. "S-Stop... Stop it!" he screamed as he began shaking violently.

A menacing smile touched Kade's lips as his right hand laid on the hilt of Fate, his titanium katana. He stepped forward slowly he didn't want to end this boy but he must silence him.

Kazuki continued to shake a bit as he cursed himself. His remorse was turning into anger as a powerful red chakra shadowed his body. His breathing became more violent and he rose to his feet, glaring at Kade, once again holding Loveless firmly in his hand.

"You really should listen to your friends, attacking an innocent civilian isn't nice, especially not in here." Kade said as his eyes scanned the room, looking at the frightened workers and civilians.

Kazuki smirked a bit, noticing the off-guard Kade. He slapped his hands together. "Kai: Release..." The kata he made freed him from the current genjutsu he was in. He saw the opportunity and appeared in front of Kade in a quick blur with his increased speed. He drew back, his speed slowly, but he punched Kade with enough force to blow him through a wall to the outside.

The wind exited Kade's body as Kazuki's fist connected with his torso. A grunt escaped his lips once his back touched the wall, grunting when he the ground outside. His body preformed a series of rolls before his feet planted themselves in the snow sliding as his nails dug in as well. Once he came to a stop he stood up laughing a bit.

Kazuki rushed outside as the red chakra receded. His was on the move for his target. He wouldn't dare let him get away. Once he got in position, he made a few katas as wind based chakra appeared around the blade of Loveless. "Futon: Wind Sheering Kodachi style..."

Rei and Anko looked around the waiting room of the hotel. The place was wrecked, not to mention the hole allowing snow to pile inside the building.

Rei turned to the clerk and looked with an apathetic look on her face. "Yeah... We'll get to cleaning that up right away..."

A series of katas were made after Kade placed his blade in the ground. The temperature of his blade increased greatly. He held his blade tightly removing it from the snow as sparks danced on the blade before they combusted into flames. "Katon: Style of the Dancing Flame."

Kazuki stood his ground. He could use frontal or ranged attacks with this technique, but a fire jutsu would defeat his wind, so he had to go around this. He flipped a few katas as the earth next to him rose and formed the shape of a wolf. "Doton: Rushing Stone Wolf..."

The wolf rushed at Kade and lowered its head and lunged towards Kade's torso to bash him.

He pushed off his right foot in a mid bash, once the wolf was a foot away his body flickered, much like teleportation as it increased his speed to make his form look like a mere after image. He form flickered to the right by one foot still closing in swinging down in a diagonal right to left manner, releasing a crescent blade of flames towards Kazuki's abdomen.

Kazuki falls back a bit, the snow putting the flames out. Kazuki retaliates by lashing with Loveless and a blade of wind attacks Kade across his torso. Kazuki was injured and bleeding moderately. He grunted a bit and used his free hand to focus chakra through as he hovered it over his wound and healed it as best he could.

The wolf stops and turns around. It glares at Kade and rushes him again.

Kade's blade being held up as the winds hit the blade, feeding the flames pushing him back, he used the momentum to spin on his heel, the stone wolf grazing his legs, slicing him, not deep but deep enough to cause a slight limp.

Kazuki sheathed Loveless and rushed Kade. He approached and gave Kade an uppercut. He jumped up and appeared above Kade in a blur, he punched him back downwards, and then rushed back to the ground, again knocking him into the air with a punch to the torso. He jumped a final time and appeared above the floating Kade, he drew his fist back and punched him square in the face back towards the ground. "Dragon pulse taijutsu technique!"

Kade was forced by the blow back into the snow. A loud thud was given when the impact was made. Kazuki landed on his feet not to far away. By this time, Kade was in no more of a mood for meager play. He had started to become furious.

Kade rose from the snow. His eyes had changed, they had become a three pronged mangekyo sharingan. Kade gazed into his opponent's eyes as his eyes began to spin. He had captured Kazuki within his tsukoyomi.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter (and their creator); Uchiha Kade (MedaK)


	10. Enemy information revealed

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

The snow began to slow almost to a stop as it froze in midair. The sky had become crimson and the snow was now black. Everything seemed to invert it's natural colors, and Kazuki could not move whatsoever.

"This, is the tsukoyomi..." Kade's voice was heard, ringing around from every direction. "I'm sure you've hear much of this back in the village. It is one of the Uchiha's advanced dôjutsu techniques. In this, there is no time beyond my limits... I can control everything inside this space-time dimension."

Kazuki screamed out as the jutsu unfolded. Kade released the tsukoyomi he had on Kazuki, watching him fall into the snow which once again fell to the ground.

Kade chuckled lightly. "You bit off more than you could chew. In the end, it almost cost your life. I know you can still hear me somewhat before you fall unconscious. I'll tell you this. You may have wondered why there is an Uchiha survivor besides Sasuke and Itachi... Hokage has kept secrets from you, that you may uncover sometime in your future, if you don't die that is... Ochina."

Kade took his blade and drew back, he took a deep breath and prepared to thrust the blade forward... but he was stopped by the voice of someone behind him.

"Enough, child..." said a voice familiar to Shiragi's.

Kazuki couldn't hear by then. His consciousness had already slipped away from him as he lay there quietly in the snow.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Kade asked with adverting his gaze from Kazuki. He held his guard in the event of Shiragi engaging him. He was careless enough to let her sneak behind him.

Shiragi stood in place, not moving forward or back. "I'll take the boy." She seemed to have achieved her goal more easily than she'd imagined. She was also prepared to do whatever it took to capture Kazuki.

Kade turned back to Shiragi and looked at her, somewhat surprised by her fox mask. "How valuable is he to you?" Kade asked, testing the limits of the situation.

"Enough." Shiragi responded. "I don't have much to give, so I can't offer much for him..."

Kade smirked a bit. He wasn't so sure she was telling the truth. "If you have nothing to give, maybe I should just end him now..." Kade turned back, but to his surprise, Reio was standing between him and Kazuki.

"Don't make me wait all day. I have a schedule to abide by." Shiragi complained. "Just let me take him and I'll let your young little hide take off without a scratch from me. Unless..." Shiragi started, changing her tone to a bit of a sadistic amusement. "Unless you think you can take on a beautiful woman like myself."

Reio scoffed at Shiragi's last comment. "Yeah, and I'm Mizukage's personal servant..."

Kade looked between the two, and then to Kazuki. "I am outnumbered, and I could end up being outmatched. You both have tricky chakras inside your bodies." Kade sheathed his blade and started to walk away. "Take him; he's worthless to me anyway." With that, Kade walked away, fading as he moved into the blizzard.

* * *

Shiragi and Reio had taken Kazuki to a cabin off from the hotel. Kazuki was put in a chair and tied up, though his mouth was uncovered. Shiragi had laid out testing equipment and surgical tools. The intent of her plans were unknown. She stepped into another room by herself as Reio went out to scout and make sure no one had followed.

Kazuki stirred a bit and opened his eyes slowly. His surroundings were different and Kade was nowhere to be seen. He tried to stand but noticed that he couldn't move. He cursed under his breath and glared, but stopped and turned his head as he heard Shiragi in the other room, only slightly.

In the other room, it was dark with a hint of candlelight. Shiragi was staring at a photo in a frame with only silhouettes of three people in the photo because of the shadow cast upon the frame. Her face was as well hidden by the shadows, while her mask lay on the desk that held the photo frame. "...My two onii-san... Gomen, if I had known that things would have come to this one day, I would have treated you both better. I can't express my deepest sympathy for the both of you. I don't feel that I deserve what kindness you could show me if you were alive. I can't forgive myself... Damn, I was such a brat back then! G-Gomen nasai..." Shiragi started to choke on her own words as she began to cry. "Gomen na...sai... Gomen... nasai..." She continued to apologize through her cries for a few more minutes before she stopped and stepped out of the room with the disguise over her face once more.

Kazuki scoffed and corrupted his face with a scowl. He heard Shiragi's footsteps enter the room and he turned to her with a cocky remark. "So, even something as inhuman as you had family, huh?"

Shiragi cringed. She immediately became enraged as he smacked Kazuki across the face. "Don't speak. Not about something of that nature..."

"Then what do you want with me?" Kazuki demanded as he glared at her.

Shiragi stepped over to the tools and equipment staring at it. "Reio wants to extract your DNA and make money off of it after killing you. We know about your abilities releases, since I gave him the information."

"That didn't answer my question." Kazuki retaliated. "What do you want with me? Besides, how do you know about my clan's abilities?"

Shiragi continued to stare at the equipment in front of her as she spoke without making a motion towards Kazuki. "You're not ready to fight your brother..." she said all of a sudden. It seemed strange for her to know anything about the affairs of the Ochina clan, though she had already known of their abilities. Perhaps she had some kind of connection with the Ochina.

Kazuki glared a bit more. He was curious. "How would you know anything about my brother? Just who are you?"

Shiragi grabbed a syringe with a liquidized substance inside the tube. "You'll find out one day if you don't get yourself killed." She walked over to Kazuki and injected the liquid into Kazuki's throat through the needle point of the syringe.

The effects should have paralyzed Kazuki and put him to sleep. Shiragi pulled the needle away from him and put it away. She watched as Kazuki dozed off and once again lost his consciousness.

"...Good night Kazuki-san." Shiragi whispered as she saw his head fall limp and dangle from his neck.

* * *

"Hey! Wake up! Don't make me strangle you!" Rei's shrieking voice rang through the darkness in Kazuki's mind. "Alright, I warned you!" All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his side. His eyes jerked open and he held his side. He paused for a moment and looked around. It was cold and he was laying in the snow outside the hotel again. What happened with his encounter with Shiragi...? Was it just part of the tsukoyomi?

Rei threw her hands from her hips and crossed them over her chest. "Well finally you're awake." she snapped. "Thanks to you, we had to find a way to pay for the hotel damages! Luckily they had spare lumber to patch up the hole, and no, they're not kicking us out, since Anko and I had to wash dishes all night!"

Kazuki stood up and groaned. He rubbed the back of his head and walked passed Rei towards the hotel. "Sorry," he said without looking back.

Rei stood there a minute and let it soak in. "...You're, sorry...? Sorry? That's all you can say? I'll make you sorry all right!" she screamed as she turned to him, rage filling up inside her eyes.

"I apologized at least!" Kazuki snapped. "If you don't like it, you can get over it!" He stopped at the door and spoke without looking at Rei. "Where's Anko?"

"She's asleep in her room. She got a little exhausted from all the work, so she went to bed."

"Tell me something. Have you ever had a foreshadowing that could lead to possible events in your future?"

"Huh? What are you asking me for? Like I'd know."

Kazuki groaned a bit. "Forget it... Anyway, you can probably tell that Kade got away. Though it wasn't a total loss."

Rei let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "You're right... I'll give the information to Anko and she can write it up, giving a little bit more information to update on Kade. This wasn't a total loss, I suppose."

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	11. Kazuki's goal

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"I'll hear nothing more about it!" Tsunade shouted as she rose from her desk from anger, glaring at Kazuki. "You are hereby suspended from duty until further notice! I will not accept intolerance!"

It had been the day after the encounter with Kade. Kazuki and Anko reported to Tsunade on their progress. That was the sad, yet deserved outcome after hearing the story.

Kazuki let out a gruff sigh and stepped out of the room after affirming, "Yes Hokage." He felt bad, as if he were being scolded like a dog when it doesn't listen to its master. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked back into the village from the Hokage building.

Rei was taking time to relax. Right now, any time away from Kazuki was relaxation time. She loved it too. "This is so delicious!" she pronounced from her seat near the most favorable dumpling shop in Konohagakure, the Amaguriama. Her face beamed with happiness. She chomped down and took an entire dumpling into her mouth in a matter of seconds. "I heard rumors, but I never imagined it was this good." She let out a sound of joyful pleasure as she enjoyed herself. "I feel like I'm in Heaven... The part that makes it better is that no one's around to bother me. Especially Kazuki! No arguments, no small things like his attitude to tick me off. Although..." she paused and her expression saddened a bit. "He's not all that bad. I might be being too harsh..."

"Is that so?" Kazuki queried as he walked up from down the road behind her. "In my opinion I though you'd be spitting at my grave by now." He rose his head a bit from the ground and looked at her with his hands still shoved in his pockets.

Rei's eyes went wide as she almost choked on her next dumpling. "Don't... sneak up... on people... you jerk!" she said between coughs. "What's it matter anyway? How about minding your own business?"

"I wanted to ask you something, and maybe talk for a bit." Kazuki says sincerely without making another movement. He had nothing better to do since he was suspended, and ever since yesterday, he'd been thinking about things in a different way.

"Fine, I'll humor you." Rei remarked as she gave in. "What do you want to talk about then?" She chomped on another dumpling with a glare as she waited for Kazuki's response. "It's probably something stupid I bet..." she thought to herself.

Kazuki hesitated as his bottom lip quivered violently before he blurted. "Tell me how you manage to live happily, knowing your family isn't alive!"

Rei was shocked. She wouldn't expect anyone to ask a question like that, Kazuki the most of all. She found herself at a loss, holding her head and looking at the ground. Not a thing came to her mind. "I... don't know..." she responded as her facial expression saddened, her shoulders slid downward. Now, she seemed too ashamed to even look at Kazuki. She felt upset, and sad, for the both of them. "I never thought about it really. I hardly even remember anything about my birth parents, just the people who raised me in Sunagakure, but even they're dead. Why are you asking me this?"

"You can manage and still act like yourself. I want to learn to able to move on and live without the pain." Kazuki replied. "Honestly, you are a good shinobi, but probably a person with stronger control because you looked passed things so easily."

Rei let out a sigh and looked up. Her shoulders relaxed though she cringed, trying to repress her thoughts. "You're not entirely correct. Being able to control yourself and block those things that haunt you on the inside is hard. It doesn't mean you're strong. You're just able to forget about it all. I guess what makes someone strong is being able to do what would make the people you lost, proud of you." She looked at him and furrowed her brows only slightly to give him a serious, yet concerned look. "Kazuki, tell me what happened to your family, other than what you already said."

"I see..."

"Kazuki..." she paused, hoping he would respond.

"Yeah, what is it?" Kazuki was puzzled. What could Rei ask of him? Kazuki couldn't do anything to help the situation.

"I want to know what happened to your family." she uttered. "I know it may not seem like it, and you may not feel the same way, but either way, you're still my friend Kazuki. I want to know how I can help you!"

Kazuki inhaled and closed his eyes. He seemed rather unenthusiastic if he had to talk about this subject. He seemed as if he was being back away into a cornered. With no choice, he spoke about it. "It was five years ago... My clan was tragically laid to waste and devastated by a member of our own clan. That's why this is similar to the Uchiha incident, because my brother killed the members of the Ochina clan. Luckily I was able to get away before he found me." He hesitated, the was a heavy weight inside his chest as he grunted. He let it go and tried to continue. "I don't know much about the Uchiha at all, except that in the past Uchiha and Ochina were enemy clans. So, I don't know why Itachi killed them. I don't even know why my brother killed my clan either, but I bet it had something to do about the heir to clan."

"The heir to the clan...?" Rei interrupted accidentally.

Kazuki opened his eyes again and answered, resuming his story. "The Ochina aren't well known anymore, but what people do know about us is not only our kekkei genkai abilities, but our mastery of the sword. It was a tradition in our family that a special sword named Seintaga, be passed down by the current wielder and given to the child they deemed worthy of its power. It doesn't have any supernatural abilities or anything, but it is a useful weapon. Its about the length of a no-dachi."

"That's seems stupid over something so trivial as a sword." Rei expressed. She realized what she just said could have been rude considering the incidents previous. "Sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine..." Kazuki declared as he cut her off. "I don't know why my brother did what he did. It doesn't matter either. I'm going to pay Katon back for everything I've had to endure. I've been waiting for the right day..."

Rei clenched her fists a bit. She was conflicted. Her duty was to protect Kazuki and make sure he didn't leave Konoha. She was ordered to make sure he didn't pursue that goal, but after hearing his story, she could understand why he would want to do something like that. She didn't know what to do. She could follow her duties and prevent Kazuki from his goals, or she could abandon her duties and allow Kazuki to get even with his brother. She didn't know what was more important... her determination to pursue her goals was lost.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter; (None)


	12. Outcast by definition

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto except the Original Concepts in the story.

OC information is at the end of the chapter.

* * *

A loud knocking sound disturbed Rei from inside the dark depths of her mind's subconscious. It paused; and then continued, becoming more rapid. She couldn't seem to shake what was bothering her or find a way to fight against it. Suddenly; within the darkness her eyes tore open as they darted around her bedroom in the home she'd been living at in Konoha. She instinctively looked towards the window as she lay uneasily in her bed.

The heavens above glistened with bright stars shining in the depths of infinite blackness. The moon's exuberant silvery glow welcomed itself through the window to give light in the unsuspecting darkness. Then again the banging continued; she assumed someone was at the front door. Sleepily she shook her head and slowly scurried to the front in her pajamas. She reached the door and opened it with so little control its as if she had no choice in the matter.

"I hope you don't expect to be leaving the country in that..." Kazuki mocked as he stood at the doorway. He was dressed and prepared with a stuffed sack on his back for the next mission they'd been given. "You might want to get ready so we can leave and get this over with."

Rei stood there with hidden anger. She was extremely unprepared with her hair unruly and unkempt, her things not packed, and her hygiene not been covered yet after just been woken up against her will. Her right eye began to rapidly convulse in annoyance. "What the Hell is wrong with you? Are you really that insensitive? Do you honestly have any idea what time it is?"

Kazuki took a brief pause after a small sigh. "You're going to judge and label me as the insensitive one when you're screaming and possibly waking up your neighbors... Some nerve you have. Geez." He folded his arms over his torso sternly in self defense.

That had been the final straw for the current time. Rei stood erect and calmed herself as she prepared her next motion. Then she harshly slammed the door in Kazuki's face and turned away. "I should go back to bed; but I'm already up thanks to someone."

"By the way; it's around five thirty or so," Kazuki remarked from outside. He figured now he'd just have to wait for her to quickly prepare herself and join his party before they headed off to their next post. He couldn't afford another failure this time. If that happened; he'd be dealt a painstaking punishment from Tsunade herself.

"Jackass..." she grumbled in retaliation to his smart remark. She released a heavy sigh and lazily walked back in a daze. She moved back to her room to dress and pack up the belongings she'd need for the trip. A journey to Numa no Kuni, the Land of Swamps; would take a while on foot and then a trip by sea to get to the small island country. Only shortly after were all Rei's current tasks at hand completed. She stepped back to the door and out into the village. "I must admit..." she paused as she started walking beside Kazuki, "The sky really is pretty around this time."

"I knew it was a good idea to get up early." Kazuki stated in a self righteous victory. His attitude seemed slightly more warm towards Rei after the recent events since their first encounter. He might of hated to admit it; but he was getting a bit chummy with her after all. "You get a good view so you have something that will keep you from getting bored. I'm sure there's someone you should thank for that."

Rei kept going as she rolled her eyes and motioned back a few gestures before grabbing the straps of the pack on her back. "Yeah; as if. Don't think you're getting off so easily! You owe me for waking me up and screaming so loud. I think a treat at the Amaguriama would work as compensation."

Kazuki's face became covered with an annoyed expression as he narrowed his eyes. "You women and your sweets..." He sighed moderately before taking the lead in direction. "We have to make a stop before going to the designated point for meeting the client. There are some people we're supposed to meet; so we'll stop there first and wait for them." The ANBU lead the way off as he followed the directions for meeting with the others assigned to the mission before landing himself and Rei in front of the Ichiraku. "Here of all places...?" Kazuki's once annoyed expression returned so soon after realizing where they stopped.

Standing around the corner of the street were two silhouettes darkened by the street lights. They positioned close to a wooden fence. From a distance there were slight muttering sounds as if they were talking to one another. Then after a moment or so; they began to walk towards Kazuki and Rei.

"Ah; he did show up after all," one of the silhouettes spoke with the voice of a young kunoichi. Her appearance came in to view as she stepped in to the light of one of the lamps. Long magenta hair tied back into a ponytail covered the top of her hair while her eyes were as black as the night itself. Over her body was a chûnin vest and suit covering her for protection while a red Konoha hitai-ate fit snug around her waist. "I expected you to slack off and screw up like the perverted dog you are!" she mocked Kazuki as she jerked her head to one side and her hair viciously whipped the nothingness in the air.

"Oh! That's funny Sachiko... Let me guess; you got that one from your mom, right? You're just as sexist as she is!" Kazuki snapped back in retaliation. He rolled his eyes dejectedly and folded his arms tightly over his chest. "I can't believe I'm stuck with you; and if you're here, I'm guessing that's Don..."

The second silhouette waved as he entered the light. He was only a genin with the Konoha hitai-ate tied across his forehead, and the symbol for the village marked on metal plates embedded into his gloves. Short, slightly curled brown hair and brown eyes, just a simple look about him. Nothing really made him stand out with his appearance either, just a simple shirt and pants. He yawned a bit loudly as he dropped his hand to cover his mouth before shoving them both in his pockets. "...Hey Kazuki..." He dropped his head a bit with a sleepy look in his eyes.

"What do you mean sexist?" Sachiko angrily shouted as she pushed passed Don abruptly and put a hand on his chest to push herself forward. "If anything it's you! You're the perverted jerk who only thinks about himself! At least last year I didn't try to take off and get an autographed copy of 'Make Out Paradise'. And I am not like my mother!"

Kazuki sternly stomped his foot at her as he leaned in with furrowed brows. "You heard me! Not deaf are you? Or are you too much of a feminist to even care what I have to say?" He curled up his fingers as they turned into fists.

Almost instantly it felt as if sparks were flying between their eyes as both of them began growling at each other. Kazuki and Sachiko locked eyes as they challenged each other. The both of them were doing the exact same movements. Shaking fists, snarling, and glaring at the other; neither one seemed content to be in the other person's company.

Sachiko then rushed in and slipped behind Kazuki. She threw her arm around his neck from behind and started choking him while she beat him in the head with her other fist. "Take it back; take it back!" she screamed in furious rage.

Kazuki choked on his words as he struggled to free himself. "I... will... never...!"

Don released a solemn sigh as he slowly put his face into his right hand. "Just like old times..." He shook his head lightly in combination with his sarcastic but serious remark. He just watched from the background; making no attempt to step in and interfere. He figured it would be better if he let things be.

Rei stared with narrowed and annoyed eyes. She calmly rose her hand and pointed a finger in their direction. "You mean this is typical with these two? You can't be serious... I have half a mind to strangle them both right now."

Don yawned heavily. He extended out his arms and stretched in a sense of restlessness. "Yeah... good luck with that."

Rei snarled before walking up to both of them and brutally smacking them in the back of their heads. "I'm a bodyguard; not a babysitter! Get that through your thick heads. Now stop acting like brats and come on!" Rei snatched the backs of their outfits and dragged them away as Don followed behind yawning to himself.

A figure stood back in the darkness leaning against the ramen shop. A silhouette couldn't contrast against the lack of lighting, thus they were completely hidden unless sensed by some means other than visual perspective. The person softly sighed and watched as the shinobi walked away. In the darkness the figure just shook their head with their arms folded over their torso.

* * *

A few hours had passed gracefully as the squad awaited on their accompaniment. It was nearing the time for arrival of their client, so they continued to wait around. Even though it had become tiresome, they still had to live up to their responsibilities. The free time did allow them to casually converse and discuss things as they waited.

"So..." Rei began, catching the attention of the other three. "How do you all know each other prior to this mission? You guys obviously have kind of history together." she quirked out of curiosity, and having nothing better to do.

Kazuki narrowed his eyes in a disgusted manner.

"Well," Don yawned lightly while stretching with his arms out in front of himself, "We knew each other from the academy pretty much. We all got stuck together through training. Besides, we're squad members."

"Were." Kazuki snapped, preventing Don from uttering another word. His words piercing the air like a sharpened kunai dipped in venomous poison. It stung and lingered even after. "We were squad members. Years ago; but not anymore. Though I'd rather you guys just drop the subject."

Don scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning away from the others. "Touchy much?"

Sachiko glared. Those words Kazuki spoke annoyed and infuriated her. "Oh; so now you think you're better than us, that it; huh? No, you don't just think it, you act it! You're nothing but a conceited asshole! You're no better than anybody. You're no freaking king of the world, so stop acting like a selfish child! You're just a spoiled brat because Hokage Tsunade-sama carried you along most of the way. God, you'd think the whole world revolves around you!"

A set of footsteps lightly scuttled across the ground gently as another approached from the outside gates of Konoha. A calm and gentle female voice called towards the group from the location of the footsteps. "I'm not interrupting am I? I'm seeking an escort group to take me back to Numa no Kuni. I don't assume you are my escorts; are you?"

"We are." Kazuki responded blatantly.

The client narrowed her eyes a moment as her voice became more stern. "Is that so? I suppose I'd rather keep our introductions brief then. I am a high priestess of Numa no Kuni. I would rather this trip be as quick as possible. I'd rather avoid getting into any confrontations from you seeing your earlier behavior."

Kazuki scowled and glared in her direction. "So you're implying that we're troublemakers based on your judgment of our behavior that you only saw so briefly? I think that's a bit narrow minded myself."

"Narrow minded?" the priestess quirked. "Just based on that little display, I'd say you're the worst of the entire group. By what your friend has said so far, you're only self-centered and concerned about your own affairs. Let alone your malice and buried hatred to those around you. With an attitude such as yours, you would never amount to much in this world. How you achieved your status as an ANBU in Konoha is beyond me."

"Hey; why don't we just calm down a..." Rei started before being interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at Kazuki who was walking out of the village, quietly gritting his teeth together and keeping his head hung low.

"All of you just keep quiet and follow me..." he demanded with a moderately powerful anger in his voice.

* * *

OCs introduced this chapter (and their creator); Don (Shadowbear), Denzai Sachiko (Ryu-Kazuki)


End file.
